Furnishing Giant IKEA Trademark Sold to Subsidiary for $11 Billion

When your brand is as powerful as IKEA, selling its rights means simultaneously passing on all the customer relations and the prestige gained with so much effort. According to Livemint, the home furnishing giant sold its trademark to one of its own subsidiaries for €9 billion ($11 billion). Ikea said its Liechtenstein-based Interogo Foundation sold the brand name to Inter Ikea Systems on January 1, 2012, as a way of “consolidating and simplifying the group’s structure”, as Inter Ikea Group’s head of communications Anders Bylund explained. The change is said to be an internal transaction, without any external effects. One could even see it as a marketing move, putting a book value on the brand. Anders Bylund also stated that the brand’s worth was carefully evaluated by financial experts and that no “discount” had been given, even though it was an internal deal. How would you comment on this unusual transaction?